Aug 31, 2010

Roger Clemons supposedly lied to Congress and could get up to 35 years in prison. What happens to the congressmen, congresswomen and senators that lie to us? (I'll lower taxes, close the border, bring in more jobs, fight for the little man, etc.)

What about our own senator and his latest rival? If half of what they said about each other were true, why would we want either one of them to represent us?

Watching the news channels, the Republicans say the Independents are fed up with the Democrats, and the Democrats say the Independents are against the Republicans. As an Independent, I am fed up with the whole darn bunch!

One of the more candid moments in McGarry's interview with Tancredo was when he asked him about legalizing marijuana. Tancredo said he is opposed to the drug war — a position he took up last year. “I don't use marijuana, I've never smoked a marijuana cigarette ...” Tancredo began.

“Do you want to?” McGarry interjected.

“Not really. I take about two glasses of wine almost every night with dinner. That's as far as I go,” Tancredo laughed. “The reality is this: The war is lost. I don't know that anyone out there can say to me let's just keep doing what we're doing. If you want to deal with this problem, take the money for the cartels out of it. You legalize it, you tax it, you make it a horrendous penalty to sell to children and, all of a sudden, the ratio of profitability to risk becomes too great. If someone has a better idea, let me know. I'm happy to listen but what we're doing does not work.”

Barring any changes due to court action, there will be four candidates for the U.S. Senate and five for governor on Illinois’ Nov. 2 ballot. Randy Stufflebeam of Belleville, who filed to be the Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate, hopes the courts will order his party to be listed on ballots, reversing last week’s decision by the State Board of Elections. Stufflebeam and the Constitution candidates’ lawyer, Doug Ibendahl of Chicago, said they expect to go to court by Wednesday.

Support for all three Colorado Gubernatorial candidates declined in Rasmussen's latest poll, but Democrat John Hickenlooper continues to hold a commanding lead over Republican Dan Maes and American Constitution Party Candidate Tom Tancredo. The poll, which surveyed 750 likely voters on August 29, showed Hickenlooper receiving 36% support to Maes's 24% and Tancredo's 14%. The undecideds (20%) are up 15% from a Rasmussen poll conducted earlier in August, when only 5% reported being undecided.

Perhaps more than any other contest this year, the battle for the seat currently held by John McCain offers an opportunity to contrast the ideas of liberty with the big-government philosophy that now dominates the GOP.

Arizona held its primary election on August 24, and the results are interesting, to say the least. On the Republican side, incumbent U.S. Senator John McCain overcame two challengers to win with 56% of the vote. At first glance, this may appear decent, but it was actually a pathetic showing.

McCain spent about $21 million to get 326,000 votes. That works out to about $64/vote. His main challenger, J.D. Hayworth, spent about one-sixth as much to get 32% of the vote. The third contender, Jim Deakin, spent less than $100,000 to get 12%.

McCain is his party's most recent Presidential candidate, and has near-universal name recognition. He outspent his opponents by six to one. And yet he received less than 60% of the vote in a Republican primary!

On the Democratic side there were four contenders. The victor, Rodney Glassman, received only 34% of the votes cast, after outspending his three rivals combined. Most of his funding came from his family's extensive fortune. He's virtually unknown outside of Tucson, the state's second-largest city, where he served for a time on the city council. Many Democrats dislike Glassman, and thus nearly 2/3 of those who voted in the primary scorned him.

If ever there was a situation where a strong Libertarian candidate can make serious inroads in an election with national visibility, this is it. And I am that candidate. As one of the founders of the Libertarian Party, I have a relatively high profile in the libertarian movement, and if I start polling more than 5%, the national media will pay attention!

A showing of 5%, 10% or even 15% is not outside the realm of possibility. Many Tea Party activists who supported Hayworth and Deakin have already told me they plan to support me in the general election; they really, really loathe John McCain! And with a weak Democratic opponent, many independents are up for grabs. This can be the Libertarian Party's “breakthrough” race this year if things go well!

Howie Hawkins tells us about the 1st amendment of the Constitution. Freedom of religion is the cornerstone to what our forefathers envisioned as a free society. With all the troubles of the working class in New York, these rightwing politicians only want to talk about “the 911 Mosque”.

The only way that the Green Party can regain ballot status in NY is to get 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate in 2010. This opportunity comes only once every four years, and it only applies to the Governor’s race. Gaining ballot status will enable the Green Party to run more peace candidates, more single-payer candidates, more anti-fracking candidates, and more sustainable energy candidates. The last time that the Green Party of New York State had ballot status it set the record for running the most Green candidates of any state.

The decision Monday froze same-sex marriages, which were due to resume Wednesday after U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s historic overturning of voter-approved Prop. 8 on Aug. 4. Upon examination of the claims of the defense, Judge Walker could find no credible evidence or argument that could hold up under empirical scrutiny.

Now, the 9th Circuit will hear the case in early December – and the ruling may not be made for months, according to court observers, with the prospect of the losing side appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Rather than allowing LGBTs to again enjoy what had unconstitutionally been taken from them, the Court adopted the most conservative route, and has prolonged the agony,” said Shane Que Hee, GPCA Platform Committee chair.

He went on to predict that same-sex marriage would become the law of land in California, noting “same-sex marriage will eventually win out because it ensures full equality.”

Unlike the largest political parties, whose candidates have flip-flopped on the issue, or just opposed same-sex marriage, the Green Party of California has always supported it in practice and in the party’s platform.

Judge Walker’s Aug. 4 ruling mirrors the goals and social philosophy of the Green Party of California, not only for the civil rights of our LGBT members but for everyone. Greens, as proponents of social justice, support equal representation under the law for everyone, and oppose social bigotry and intolerance, no matter how well funded or intimidating, Greens said.

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has surpassed one trillion dollars, according to the Congressional Budget Office. While this figure is staggering, a Libertarian presidential hopeful said that the real cost of these conflicts to our economy and our liberty is even more staggering.

“One trillion dollars is an almost incomprehensible number, but what is even more incomprehensible is the fact that most of that cost is borrowed money,” said R. Lee Wrights, former Libertarian Party national vice chair and the editor and co-founder of Liberty for All online magazine.

“The federal government borrows about 43 cents of every dollar it spends, and then uses it to build schools, roads and hospitals in countries where we’re partly responsible for destroying that infrastructure,” he said. “That’s not only insane, it’s immoral.”

Wrights said that he is considering seeking the presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian message in 2012 should be a loud and unequivocal call to stop all war.

Aug 30, 2010

The Libertarian Party of Illinois (“LP Illinois”) proudly announces that our state-wide slate of candidates will be on the ballot for this November’s election. By a unanimous vote last week, the Illinois State Board of Elections determined that LP Illinois has a sufficient number of valid petition signatures and as a result will be able to compete for votes this fall.

“This vindicates our efforts in this process,” said Lupe Diaz, State Chair of LP Illinois. “We played by the rules, withstood the challenges, and now we can focus on offering the right alternative to voters,” added Diaz.

Earlier this month, members of LP Illinois defended our petitions against a series of challenges during an eight day line by line review in Springfield. At the end of the review, LP Illinois had over 33,000 valid signatures, 8,000 more than the minimum required for new parties and independent candidates.

The Executive Committee of the Alaska Libertarian Party held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the contested primary results in the Republican Senate primary. All 5 board members met in an undisclosed location in northeast Anchorage to hammer out a decision as to how to move forward.. . . On Sunday morning, over coffee and donuts, the ExComm voted unanimously, 5 to 0 to deny the Senator the ballot line. There was no malice intended. ALP Chair Kohlhaas has repeatedly stated that she is a nice lady, and the ALP was flattered by the offer.

Aug 29, 2010

A growing number of conservative Republicans have opted to support the independent conservative candidacy of longtime conservative activist Janine Hansen in Elko-area Assembly District 33 race instead of the moderate GOP nominee, John Ellison. As such, they recently formed an informal group called “Republicans for Janine.”

And Elko County GOP chief Charlie Myers is having a cow over it.

After the Elko Daily Free Press reported on the establishment of the “Republicans for Janine Hansen” group last week, Chairman Myers sent a rant-to-the-editor which was subsequently published by the paper.

In it, Myers complained about a “conspiracy” of some kind (no, no black helicopters are involved….and they’re dark blue anyway), declaring that the paper’s headline –“Republicans for Janine Hansen” Announced – misled voters into thinking the Elko County Republican Party had endorsed Janine.

Then again, maybe some of them are. Look at who they nominated in this race. But I digress.

“Our mission is to elect those that have sound conservative values, understand and follow the Constitution of the United States, are Republican and have a solid track record in demonstrating our core values,” Chairman Myers wrote to the Free Press.

Well, here’s the problem for Chairman Myers and the party establishment folks in Elko: When it comes to sound conservative values, understanding of and adherence to the Constitution, and possessing a track record demonstrating core conservative principles, Hansen beats the party’s nominee hands down.

Not just beats….crushes.

And twice on Sunday.

In fact, the only department in which Ellison beats Hansen is in being a registered Republican. But I guess if you’re an unthinking, lockstep party-line voter, that’s enough.

By the way, when asked this week whether or not he supports Republican Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea’s outrageous proposal to tax groceries as way to raise an additional $500 million for the government, Mr. Ellison replied, “It depends on how they are going to do it.”

Which raises two questions for Chairman Myers:

1.) Is raising taxes by a half-billion dollars by taxing milk and butter and eggs and cheese one of the Elko County GOP’s “sound conservative values” and “core conservative principles”?

2.) If not, then why is the Elko County Republican Party supporting a candidate who says he might vote for just such a tax hike and refuses to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?

Oh, that’s right….because he’s a “registered” Republican.

Whether or not he embraces “sound conservative values” and supports “core conservative principles” is of secondary importance. As long as he has an “R” after his name, that’s good enough, right? My party, right or wrong….right?

In concluding his rant, Chairman Myers asked: “What is the difference in this (“Republicans for Janine Hansen”) and Republicans for Harry Reid? I would say none!”

And you would be dead wrong, Charlie.

The difference is – and it’s a HUGE difference – that Janine Hansen is a conservative and Harry Reid is a socialist….er, I mean liberal. And Sharron Angle is a conservative, while John Ellison is a moderate who apparently would vote for a new tax on baby food “depending on how they do it.”

The fact that Republican Party leaders continue to promote, support and shove wishy-washy moderates like John Ellison down our throats is why so many former Republicans, such as me, have gone independent, while others have re-registered with third parties that are more consistently conservative.

It’s also why a growing number of registered Republicans are rebelling against the GOP establishment and are supporting conservative independent and third-party candidates instead. That’s why so many Republicans have joined “Republicans for Janine Hansen.”

And that’s why there’s a darned good chance in this campaign cycle and this election environment that an independent, third-party candidate like Janine Hansen could actually win the general election.

Wake up and smell the soon-to-be-taxed-if-Goicoechea-and-Ellison-get-their-way coffee, Chairman Myers. You don’t have a conspiracy on your hands; you have a full-blown mutiny.

The Green Party statewide candidates in New York today said today that they would resolve the federal budget deficit by cutting the military budget and not renewing the so-called Bush tax cuts for the rich, rather than cutting entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as the Democratic-controlled Congress is expected to do after the November election.

"Our federal budget deficit it due to too much taxpayer money being given by the Democrats and Republicans to corporate war profiteers, tax cuts for the rich and huge bailouts for Wall Street bankers and other special interests. Our deficit is not due to spending too much money on poor senior citizens. And if we want to control the costs of health care, the solution is a single payer Medicare for All health care system that saves $400 billion annually by eliminating the waste and profit of insurance companies, not by cutting health care for senior citizens and the poor," said Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor.

Cuts in Military, No more tax cuts for the rich, best ways to resolve federal deficits

Now that Stupak’s seat is open, Republicans are eager to win it back, Democrats are struggling to hang on to it, and candidates from outside these parties are trying to get voters to rethink the fundamentals of how government operates. . . . Glenn Wilson, owner of a telecom business in the small Northeastern Lower Peninsula town of Rose City, is running as an independent . . . Wilson campaign manager Rich Carlson, one of the founders of the Northern Michigan Liberty Alliance, a coalition of Tea Party groups from across Northern Michigan . . .

The Green Party candidate in Dist. 1, Charlevoix labor attorney Ellis Boal, has some specific pro-environment and anti-war policy ideas that could potentially draw Democratic voters or others that are focused on these issues. Boal is also the only pro-choice candidate in the race and the only to support repeal of the recent federal health care reform in favor of a single payer “Medicare for all” system.

Ted Strickland's model to fund education is confusing and impossible to fund. What we need is a straight approach to funding education.

I believe we need to remove education funding from the general revenue fund by creating an education trust fund. This fund would be responsible for funding primary, secondary, and higher education. It would earmark part of the state income tax, sales tax, and the commercial activity tax as it’s funding source.

In July I wrote, "As long as a government is able to “get away” with “minor” intrusions such as traffic cameras and airport body scanners; they will try to get away with greater intrusions of privacy and greater violations of our guaranteed protection from “unreasonable searches and seizures.”"

Now Forbes reports, "American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents, Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at the company told me in an interview. While the biggest buyer of AS&E’s machines over the last seven years has been the Department of Defense operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reiss says law enforcement agencies have also deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs in the U.S.

In a stunning upset, Tea Party activist and Sarah Palin-endorsee Joe Miller appears to have upset incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in Tuesday’s Republican primary election. Though there are still around ten thousand absentee ballots yet to be counted, analysts agree it is unlikely Murkowski will be able to close her 1,668 vote deficit.

However, in a move reminiscent of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL), Murkowski now appears to be considering a third-party run on the Libertarian Party ballot in the general election. Indeed, such a move could already be in the works; RedState’s Erick Erickson tweeted last night that “Lisa Murkowski has already gone to the Alaska Libertarian Party promising money in exchange for their spot on the general election ballot.”

Murkowski could only run on the Libertarian line if the current nominee, David Haase, were to step aside. In the meantime, the question remains: Will the Libertarian Party sell out its principles in order to win a seat in the United States Senate?

Here is a sample of issues highlighting the stark differences between Murkowski’s beliefs and the Libertarian Party platform:

Massachusetts Libertarian Party Chair George Phillies reports on Independent Political Report (comment 148):

"I am amused to report that the LNC was contacted by a reporter who wanted to do a story on possible interactions between the Libertarian Party and Malcolm X, the question being 'Has Malcolm X inspired your Libertarian activism?'

"It was observed by one LNC member that there was a PA local candidate who was a member of the Nation of Islam. It was noted that another LNC member had made a study of Malcolm X and his beliefs. Another LNC member claimed there is no one like that in our party.

"Mr. Root gave the LNC 'I am the de facto face and voice of the LP.' and opined that he should get the interview. Another LNC member answered Wayne 'You have indeed gotten a lot of media. However, as I pointed out in an earlier e-mail with graph attached, this has not translated into new members for the LP. We have fewer new members each month. Whatever you are doing is not growing the LP.' Glaringly obvious reasons for this failure were then listed.

"If you are wondering why our national party is in its current shape, you should recognize that this was most of the LNC's activity for a number of days.

"I have not yet learned if the reporter got an interview with anyone."

Aug 28, 2010

the Pentagon announced that it had granted the waiver requests of five states seeking to escape requirements to protect military voters. I have written previously here at PJM that all waiver requests should be denied. Unfortunately, if you are an overseas servicemember from Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, or Washington, the protections in the MOVE Act aren’t going to apply to you this year.

Independent candidate for US Senate in Arkansas, Trevor Drown, is a former green beret who served in combat in Afghanistan. A release from the Drown campaign documents the potential for disenfranchisement of overseas military voters and calls on elected leaders at the state and federal level to act quickly in addressing this issue. From the Drown campaign, sent via email:

The Department of Justice waived the law exempting five states from complying with the requirement to mail absentee ballots to overseas military voters, 45 days before Election Day.

The winner of today's Democratic primary for governor will meet Republican Brian Dubie in the first general election debate this Thursday in South Burlington. Not on the invite list: the five independent and minor party candidates who earned spots on the November ballot.

Debate co-host AARP is excluding the five independents because they don't meet their criteria for being viable candidates, says AARP's Dave Reville. Even though the candidates collectively garnered 2500 signatures to get onto the ballot, Reville says they fall short on three fronts.

it was no surprise when Republicans sharply criticized Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler for comments indicating a tax cut in the next two years for Maine’s hard-pressed citizens is unrealistic.

Cutler is right, but perhaps politically unwise, to be offering such frank statements in a political campaign when most people want to hear a more hopeful message, no matter how unrealistic. . . .

I contacted Cutler to find out what he was really saying and thinking and found his reasoning hard to refute. . . .

One fact is undeniable, and Cutler mentioned it in our conversation. Without significant economic growth, Maine will continue to founder, chasing unrealistic promises and suffering the consequences.

Cutler may never be governor — his candor is a real barrier to electoral success — but he’s doing us a favor — and raising the level of debate in this election — by talking the truth. I expect he will continue to be punished for it.

The Lakeland Ledger called for three statewide debates this fall between Democrat Alex Sink, Republican Rick Scott and independent candidates Lawton “Bud” Chiles and economist Farid A. Khavari of Miami. In yesterday’s editorial, the Ledger said that all four candidates should have an opportunity to discuss Florida’s future.

The Illinois State Board of Elections today finalized the state’s Nov. 2 ballot, ruling out a slate of candidates running under the banner of the Constitution Party but leaving on a slate running as Libertarians. The ruling effectively means four candidates’ names will appear for the U.S. Senate . . .

A U.S. District Court has upheld the North Carolina election law setting the signature requirements for an independent candidate to get on the ballot for the U.S. House. Judge Graham C. Mullen denied a request for summary judgment by Bryan Greene, who sought to have the statute ruled unconstitutional.

Greene argued that requiring an independent candidate to collect signatures from four percent of the registered voters in the district is unduly restrictive and discriminates against independent candidates because the number of signatures need varies from district to district.

Aug 27, 2010

Some 68 percent of those surveyed said they would have preferred if a candidate other than Angle had won the GOP primary. Among them were 71 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of nonpartisans and 64 percent Democrats. Among Angle voters, 66 percent said they would have preferred another GOP nominee, as would have 68 percent of Reid voters and 79 percent of those in neither camp. . . .

Reid has similar problems but to a lesser degree. Some 49 percent said they would have preferred another Democrat nominee over Reid, including 28 percent from his party, 66 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of the undecided or those aligned with other candidates. Among Reid voters, 18 percent preferred another nominee, 78 percent of Angle voters did not want him on the ballot as well as 58 percent of those who do not like Angle or Reid.

Aug 26, 2010

Tom Tancredo's gubernatorial campaign is gaining support from fed up Republicans on this thread. Read all of the comments and note that long-time Republican activists have been threatened by GOP insiders and have told them to get lost. Also note the typical name-calling that Dan Maes supporters are using. Their name-calling shows that they have no good arguments for voting for Maes, and they're becoming more frustrated and vitriolic by the day as Maes fumbles and stumbles his way into oblivion.

Connie Harn and her husband have worked for Jefferson County Republicans for some 35 years. She posted this on FaceBook:

"Christopher, the GOP boxed themselves in a long time ago. Their hand-picked candidates have not gone over well with voters in this state for years. The GOP recently got word out to every republican club and organization, including those that serve on the central committees, precinct people, district captains, etc. that if they come out in support of Tom Tancredo instead of Maes, they will lose their status within the party. Strong arm politics once again. Even if Maes did drop, I wouldn't support anyone the GOP put up as the substitute candidate. I'm a member of two tea parties, and that is exactly what the movement was fighting against to begin with. The word I've gotten is that over 10,000 people changed their party affiliation from the republican party to the ACP since Tom put his hat in the ring. (and that figure doesn't include those that changed to Independent). Many other repubs will vote for Tom, but not publicly announce this for fear of the insider reprisal.."

It was my pleasure to meet and listen to a rather unknown contender for the position of Illinois governor by the name of Lex Green, representing the Libertarian Party, during a meeting of the 9-12 Project recently.

Compared to today's powers in Springfield, he proposes fiscal discipline, a constitutional government and individual rights. He is running under the premise of bringing prosperity back to Illinois. The thing that struck me was that he sounds sincere and honest, something I fail to see in other contenders. Isn't it a fact that most politicians tell you exactly what you want to hear? Well, he didn't seem to be that way, and that is why I'll put my X next to his name on the ballot in November! How about you?

Since Reagan, many Republican politicians have donned the 'conservative' mantle without an understanding of what wearing that title entails. As a result, both federal and state governments have grown larger, require more of your tax money to exist, and created more cavernous deficits. Even our current president struggles to maintain the interest of a conservative base while creating his newest entitlement program which expands the fiscal black hole known as Medicare. Just as the Democratic Party abandoned Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party appears to have abandoned conservatives.

Social and fiscal conservatives do have a viable alternative, and that is the Libertarian Party.

There is a growing trend around the Nation of increased cooperation between Republicans and Libertarians at the state and local levels, to beat the Democrats in the November elections. There's a new found pragmatism on both sides. Local Republican officials in many instances are urging their members to vote Libertarian in races where no GOP candidate has filed. On the other side, an increasing number of Libertarian Party members on the ballot, are stepping aside and urging their supporters to back the Republican, particularly in tight races.

One possible wild card: the state Libertarian Party told the Anchorage Daily News it was open to the possibility of nominating Murkowski as a third party candidate, a notion her campaign has not ruled out. Asked about the possibility Wednesday, Murkowski said it was "way, way, way too premature."

The target date for certifying the primary results is Sept. 15, but a state review board has an additional 10 days to conduct a canvass and review any disputed ballots. If the Libertarian Party were to name Murkowski as its new nominee, by law it would have to do so by Sept. 15, Fenumiai said.

On August 24, 2010 the Boston Tea Party National Committee passed a resolution opposing a national ID "or any other bill that would establish a National ID card that includes biometric scanning or tracking devices" 5-0 (with 2 not voting).

The warfare state and the welfare state are inevitably linked, two sides of the same coin. The elites who run both of these scams have convinced many of those protesting against one to support the other through a false choice between the left and right sides of the same pyramid scheme - with them at the top and most of us at the bottom. As long as our struggles are limited to working to elevate left above right or right above left, the pyramid remains balanced on our backs, ensuring their comfort.

Former Board of Supervisors President and (Nader's) Vice Presidential Candidate Matt Gonzalez, Congressman and former Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, and 8th Congressional District candidate John Dennis (GOP), are scheduled to speak during a non-partisan, antiwar, anti-Washington and anti-incumbency free speech rally, September 4 in San Francisco.

Matt Gonzalez also ran for Mayor of San Francisco as a Green Party nominee. Readers at IPR will also remember Ron Paul was the 1988 Libertarian presidential nominee.

Other speakers are also slated to appear, although they have not yet been named. The event appears to be hosted by Campaign for Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty, both organizations that originated from Paul’s 2008 Republican campaign for President.

You may be wondering whether the Americans Elect corporation is serious in its ambition to get its own candidates for President and Vice President elected in 2012. I’ve been wondering too. But then I did a bit of checking and found out that within the past three weeks Americans Elect (or the similarly-named “Americans Elect Corp.”) has successfully pursued corporate registration to business in each of the 50 states. This is a group that means to accomplish something. If you want to know just what that is, stay tuned.

Americans Elect was previously known as Unity (20)12 and Unity (20)08. More at Irregular Times.

Aug 25, 2010

Rich Whitney does not want just your consideration. He wants your vote. The Green Party candidate for governor visited Springfield on Monday to explain his stances on issues and why he is the best person to take the state’s top post.

Current Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, are considered the front-runners to become Illinois’ next governor. A recent poll had Brady up on Quinn 39 percent to 30 percent, with Whitney earning 11 percent of respondents’ support.

Whitney understands that Illinoisans are reluctant to vote for a third-party candidate. But he says voters must consider alternatives if they want to help fix a state that is facing enormous troubles.

I am used to my local paper, Newsday, having a Greenout in its reporting on politics. I am not talking about the usual Greenout where they pretend there are no other candidates than the corporate Democratic/Republican candidate. I am talking about where they report on another similarly situated candidate and give short shrift to the Green Party candidate. . . . Now it’s the AP‘s turn. I am a little shocked that a national press syndicate would be so blatant. In an AP article on the DCShadow Representative election, the AP refused to even give the Green Party [notice the AP won't even capitalize Green Party] candidate a name much less give her an equal paragraph to the Republican candidate.

The Green party in Stockholm is however the big winner. Compared with the 2006 elections the Greens have doubled their support, this means an increase with 100 percent.. In this survey they got 18.2 percent which means that they are almost as big as the Social Democrats' 20.2 percent.

- The increase of the Green Party is astonishing. It is very unusual that a party succeeds to double their support during one single lenngth of office, says Nicklas Källebring, analyst at Synovate to newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Aug 24, 2010

Despite the odds, there are 23 people running for Maryland's U.S. Senate seat this fall, including candidates from the Constitution Party, the Green Party and the Libertarian Party, as well as Republicans and Democrats.

From a post at Poli-Tea on an ongoing flap between Republican and Libertarian activists in Georgia:

Though it does not follow from [the Libertarian] Bittner's comment that "Nathan Deal and everyone associated with the Georgia Republican Party are white supremacist Naizs because they’re against illegal immigration," as the Republican pundit alleges, in the present context it is worth noting that white supremacists and Nazis do support Republican gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal because he is against illegal immigration. If, as I've documented before, the Communist Party and Communist Party front groups support the Democrats, does not a "fair and balanced" assessment of the major parties demand investigation of Nazi support for Republicans? A search of the web forum Stormfront demonstrates longtime support for Republican Nathan Deal in the white supremacist and Nazi community . . .

This year, the ballot-qualified Arizona Green Party, which is required under state law to nominate by primary, has in influx of candidates who are apparently not bona fide Greens, and who have refused to meet with Green Party activists and leaders. There is evidence that political consultants who are associated with Republicans recruited these candidates. See this blog post.

With the Republican and Democratic candidates already decided by the party primaries earlier this month, a third party — the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan — has announced its list of candidates for various offices in the state. Among them is a physician from Fremont who advocates the killing of abortion doctors.

Dr. Ronald Graeser has run for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 2nd District before under the auspices of the USTPM, the state affiliate of the openly theocratic Constitution Party.

Cheyenne rancher and retired surgeon Taylor Haynes is confident that his name will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot as an independent candidate for Wyoming governor.

Haynes planned to turn in a petition with nearly 7,000 signatures Monday. He needs 4,988 names to meet the requirements for an independent nomination. . . . He added that as governor, he would work to uphold the Constitution and Wyoming's constitutional authority. The candidate also was endorsed by the state's newly formed Constitution Party.

American Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo has picked former state Rep. Pat Miller, a solid pro-life candidate, as his lieutenant governor candidate. . . . “We’ll have the most conservative ticket for state governor in the country,” said Miller. Miller has changed her voter affiliation from Republican to the American Constitution Party.

I'm pleased to welcome yet another new contributor to Third Party and Independent Daily. Paulie has been a life member of the Libertarian Party since 2000 and is active in Libertarian ventures and causes across the country. Perhaps you are already familiar with Paulie from his extensive contributions to IPR or any number of other sites devoted to third party and independent politics. Though Paulie is at home in the Libertarian Party, he's also a close and keen observer of third party and independent politics across the board. Welcome!

Dan La Botz, Socialist Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, has initiated a petition to demand that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner use her authority to insure inclusive political debates in Ohio where all candidates can be heard.

The online petition points out that Republican candidate Rob Portman and Democratic Party candidate Lee Fisher have been discussing the possibility of debates which would exclude the Socialist La Botz as well as the Constitution candidate Eric Deaton.

“The Ohio Secretary of State has the responsibility to insure fair elections,” says La Botz. “So far Jennifer Brunner has done an excellent job to insure that all parties and candidates will appear on the ballot. But, if an election is to be fair, then voters have to be able to hear all of the candidates’ views—not just the Republicans and Democrats.”

La Botz points out that recent polls show many and perhaps most Americans disgusted with both parties and looking for alternatives. “The alternatives deserve to be heard,” says the Socialist candidate . . .

The petition, which can be found on line at http://www.change.org/petitions/view/petition_for_inclusive_political_debates_in_ohio reads as follows:

Petition for Inclusive Political Debates in Ohio

SIGN THE PETITION FOR INCLUSIVE POLITICAL DEBATES IN OHIO - YOU NEED NOT BE FROM OHIO TO SUPPORT THIS IMPORTANT POLITICAL PRINCIPLE.

Once again, as in many elections in recent years, the Republican and Democratic parties, together with the corporate news media, are arranging candidate debates that exclude all but those two parties. Here in Ohio, the Republican candidate for Senate Rob Portman and his Democratic opponent Lee Fisher are currently discussing a debate which would apparently bar from participation both Dan La Botz, the Socialist Party candidate, and Eric Deaton, the Constitution Party candidate. Such exclusive debates keep information from the public and distort the political process.

We the undersigned, believing that an informed public and educated electorate are essential to good government, and believing that all candidates from all parties should have equal opportunity to face each other in public forums and to debate the issues before the public, therefore petition Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (the Ohio offficial responsible for overseeing elections) to insure that all of the candidates in the Ohio Senate race as well as other national, state and local races have an equal opportunity to participate in debates before the public. We call upon all candidates in Ohio and the sponsors of all debates and candidate forums to ensure that representatives of all legally registered parties are invited and included.

Aug 23, 2010

Democratic congressional candidate Richard Lutz . . . stopped eating on Aug. 12 to bring attention to his California 52nd District opponent, incumbent Duncan D. Hunter, who won’t debate him until late October . . . “It’s a very sad commentary when in a democracy you have to go on a hunger strike to get a debate with your opponent,” he told CNN. . . .

Lutz is joined in his hunger strike by Libertarian candidate Michael Benoit, as the two candidates try to pressure Hunter to agree to a series of at least five debates. The duo has issued a statement enumerating what they see as an incumbent's advantages: spending taxpayer money on brochures to promote themselves, promoting "phoney job fairs” to get free media coverage, and gerrymandering districts to their own advantage. Lutz and Benoit planned to break their hunger strike and publicly challenge Duncan to a debate at an event Friday evening.

PART ONE: The Back Story, Which You Have to Read Through Before We Can Get into the Juicy Stuff

I donated $35 to Tea Party of Nevada Senate candidate Jon Scott Ashjian. No, I'm not a Tea Partier; I'm a journalist who thought it'd be a good way to get an "in"with the campaign. Six hours after I made the donation — this was back in mid-March — I got a personalized e-mail from Ashjian saying,"Richard, Thank You!! I will fight for you!!" I replied with an e-mail applauding Ashjian for opposing tort reform, and asking him what I could do to help his campaign. No reply. Maybe he was busy. Back then, Ashjian was appearing on Fox News, drawing double-digit support and posting fiery Facebook status updates: "Harry Reid is pushing this Health Bill!!! Obama will sign it for sure!!! Reid must GO!!!!! The only candidate that can stop him is ME! Scottashjianforsenate.com! I will Stop the madness come November 2010!!!!" But Scott Ashjian had one small problem ... and it wasn't his painfully juvenile overuse of exclamation points; it was legitimacy. Prior to the campaign, he'd demonstrated no involvement with the Tea Party whatsoever. Nobody had heard of the guy . . . things were just getting interesting...

On August 23, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers blocked the Tea Party from appearing on the November 2010 ballot. The vote was 2-2. A tie keeps a party off the ballot. Apparently some of the party’s documents refer to it as “The Tea Party” whereas other documents just call it “Tea Party.” Also, this story discusses some problems with the affidavits of candidacy. The party will now go to court. Thanks to Jason Miller for this news.

The Fifth District Congressional race between Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello and Republican challenger Senator Robert Hurt is heating up this week, both on TV and in print. Perriello’s latest campaign advertisement attacks Hurt for missing the first Fifth District candidate debate, held in Charlottesville on August 11. On that day, Perriello squared off against Independent candidate and Tea Party member Jeffrey Clark. Hurt had previously said he would not participate in any debates that include Clark.

An independent candidate for governor is proposing a tax break for Iowa workers who are paid by the hour. Jonathan Narcisse says the state should only collect income taxes on 40-hours of work per week, an idea inspired by a recent stop he made at Hardee’s.

“It was about 3:22 a.m. and the young lady who waited on me had to be at her second job at 8 a.m.,” Narcisse says. “Why are we requiring her to pay taxes after 40 hours when she could use that money more than the Google millionaires in Council Bluffs or the Bill Gates’ Microsoft?”

Carbondale, IL—Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney will hold two events this Monday, August 23rd, with representatives from the organization Move to Amend in Springfield. Move to Amend is a consortium of over fifty organizations that are rallying against the creation of the classification of corporate personhood. . . .“I am delighted to be able to participate in these two events with the Monahan brothers” Mr. Whitney explained. “This presents a great opportunity for my campaign to highlight the fact that we don’t accept corporate campaign contributions in any form. This is especially timely given the recent attention on the issues facing Illinois politics that were highlighted by the Rod Blagojevich trial. Move to Amend is helping to shed light on the dangers of too much corporate power in the political arena and I am happy to be able to hold these two events with them.”

Joseph Lusi, an independent candidate for governor, has filed suit in U.S. District Court to remove the master levers from the November ballot. . . . Lusi alleges that the levers, which he calls “party levers,” violate protections contained in the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The levers allow voters to check one box on the ballot and vote for an entire slate of party candidates.

Cutler says he would establish an Office of Regulatory Review and Repeal within the governor's office if elected. The office would "repeal or change regulations that are standing in the way of job growth," according to an announcement from his campaign.

"We're going to look at every rule and regulation that's on the books, and we're going to ask Maine businesses to tell us about the unnecessary, unfair, unintelligible rules that are keeping them from growing and investing," he said in a news release.